A Whole New Meaning to Love and War
by BandGeek321
Summary: She spent so little time with him but he was everything to her, and she thought she was the same to him. When a town crazy told her that she was bound to be enslaved by the Capitol to become their property and he'd forget her, she wouldn't believe it. But then again everything else he said came true. A Gale and O/C shipping.


**For a close friend!**

* * *

As Katniss and Peeta's train sped away to the Capital; Charlie glanced over at Gale. His face showed his sadness more than anything else.

_Don't_. Her pride was urging her not to, but she wasn't moving on purpose, her legs were forcing it. Her heart was racing, palms were sweating, and her brain knew exactly what it was doing.

"Hey Prim." Charlie said, squatting down next to the small girl.

"Charlie!" She was crying and Charlie wiped the tears away.

"Charlie, why does your dress have pockets?" Prim asked, she leaned over and whispered, "It's supposed to be fancy."

Charlie reached in her pockets and pulled out a small rag. She brought one every time the reaping occurred, she needed to. It had happened once, right? Who's to say it won't happen again? No, she wouldn't think about that now.

"Oh, hey Charlie," Gale fake-smiled, his hands were clenched so hard that his knuckles were white.

"Gale." Charlie waved. She liked him, she liked him more than any guy she-Maybe not every guy.

"Are you doing better with your whole brother-?" He began; she cut him off, not wanting the reminder.

"So I heard you need a new huntress." She said.

"I-I'm sorry?"

"I'm not really bad with a bow myself, if you'd like to go hunting sometime soon?"

"How do you_ know_ you're not bad with a bow?" Gale asked.

Charlie wasn't going to brag, she wasn't that kind of girl, and either that or she didn't want to admit she had been hunting in his area. She knew better then to tell him she had been taking deer that would be an easy kill for them for a long time.

Charlie must have blushed; she could feel her skin warming.

"Really?..." Gale said after he still hadn't figured it out. "Are you a better hit then Catnip?"

She snorted. Catnip? And a better hit? How would that be significantly possible?

"No, but you need help feeding the Everdeens. Let me."

"When the Peacekeepers are out, meet me at the fence." Gale said. Charlie nodded and left the empty train tracks and the flood of people for home. There was no way she would go hunting in a dress.

Charlie took her hair out of its bun. She began to comb through her strawberry blonde hair, it was shoulder length and wavy. She pulled it up into a pony tail and began to change out of her dress. She stared at herself in a small mirror she had bought with a squirrel and hated something that made it look as if she wasn't from the district she was in, she was though. Her eyes. They were neon green. Something incredibly curious to this small district, as their grey eyes stared at hers they just wonder how it's even possible for them to be so bright.

As a kid she would play a game called "Kick-the-Can", how it would work is: at night they would put a small can in the middle of a field and a bunch of kids would go and hide while one counted. If spotted by the counter you have to run and kick the can before they do or you're in "jail". If you kick the can while someone's in jail then everyone in jail can escape and the counter has to count again.

Charlie was always the counter. Unless she hid with her eyes shut everyone could see her. Charlie almost hated the game due to that.

Charlie hated her eyes too; they had come with such a big price. Anyway, it was time to go hunting.

She slowly opened her front door making sure not to let out their ruff and bone-thin looking dog out. She didn't want a Peacekeeper to shoot him like they did her brother's. No, don't think about the dog. Definitely do not think about your brother, she said to herself. She couldn't think about it. Everything was her fault.

She leaned off the porch checking for Peacekeepers coming or going then jumped over the fence and walked the barren ground.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't show." Gale chuckled.

"Oh, spending time with you," Charlie replied, sarcastically swooning, "wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I know you wouldn't." Gale replied under his breath, Charlie distinctly hearing it. She had exceptional hearing, something that continued to make her peers curious about her.  
They began to hunt and Gale set up a trap, and maneuvered his hands quickly to form it. While he was doing so, Charlie spun around and shot a deer.

"How many of those have you gotten this month?" Gale asked, giving a nod of approval.

"Um…"

"How many?" Gale pried.

"Um… A lot…"

"A lot?"

"I've been in your hunting range before, okay? I've taken game you could've gotten. I'm sorry." Charlie sighed.

"Woah, woah! Calm down, what's mine is yours." He chuckled more; Charlie could hear the lying in his voice.

They continued hunting until they heard a snap and a cry of pain. They spun around and went to find the culprit of the noise. Gale's trap had caught a wild bore. Dead now, but it must have been behind them that whole time.

"This will take some time to untangle him," Explained Gale.

They sat in silence for a while, working around the barbed wire he had used as well for the trap. He had explained to her before, in school once, that he used scraps from anything to set up snares and traps.

"I know your story." Gale finally said, "You knew someone was going to figure it out."

"I have no clue what you're talking about." Charlie closed her eyes and tried to tune him out.  
"You were ten, right? When your brother entered his name more then three hundred times? He sold the tesserae to pay for an expensive surgery in the capital. Your surgery, the one where they fixed the poor blind Katey or Charlie, now, isn't it?" He sounded as if he was making fun of her, "Isn't that why you can hunt so well, your eyes are basically mechanical and your hearing has to be remarkable from all those years of being blind. One thing I never figured out though. How did you go blind?"

Charlie had been flinching at every word he said, almost scared they would hit her, she finally turned to him and said, "I was there, the explosion happened in the mines and I was almost there. It was my dad's birthday so I made him a cake, luckily he lived that day, one of the few survivors.. I waited all day in the lobby of the mine, standing by the elevator. When the explosion happened fragments of metal from the elevator flew into my eyes and all over my face." She pointed to scars lining her chin, "Oh, but you left out one part." Charlie said, close to tears and furious of Gale's ways of making "fun", "My brother was then put into the Hunger Games; he knew he would be and he was sent in. And you want to hear the funniest part of this story?" Charlie was almost spitting the words, she was so mad at herself and Gale, "He died."

Gale just sat there and stared at her dumbfounded. He didn't know what to say to her. His mouth was agape and he kept muttering, "Um…"

"Well." Charlie sighed, unsure of how to regain herself, "Bye then."

Charlie stalked off and walked back to the deer she had shot earlier. She began to drag it by the antlers and ducked underneath the fence. She couldn't help but laugh a bit at what she probably looked like; an angry girl fuming and stomping her way out of a woods dragging a deer. "Don't worry Charlie's sweet." "Don't worry Charlie's nice." That image would put those words to shame.

"Charlie! Over here." Charlie walked over to the con artist everyone knew and "loved", Mummo Hart. "I'll give you this plastic spoon for that very large deer… No? A bead? A button!… Unless, you want something else?" Mummo raised his eyebrows making a gesture at his groin region.

Charlies patted Mummo's cheek, "Oh, Mummo, you forgot something." Charlie struck his cheek, "I don't trade with you. Leave that to the drunken people, such as that Haymitch guy."

"You'll regret that you little bitch." Mummo yelled as Charlie stalked off still dragging the deer. "I'll tell the Peacekeepers about you!"

"Shouldn't it be the other way around Mummo? I mean they'd catch you first, huh?" Charlie laughed.

Mummo had a look of fear on his face and started motioning his hands as if to tell her to stop and to not keep walking but then gave up.

Charlie wasn't in the mood for this so she stalked towards the Hob and tossed the large deer onto a small piece of wood where people bid for items. People began to grow around them and bets were being called out.  
_Oh, Gale, what a catch! _She thought as people continued calling amounts out,_ I'm so stupid at times. He just seemed so nice._

"Now girly, what do you think you're doing selling such a large deer with the Peacekeepers running amuck," Cried Greasy Sae.

"Just making money," Charlie shrugged.

Greasy Sae muttered something about how with that attitude she could be a Capitol prostitute.

"Heard that," Charlie responded.  
"You always do, don't you?" Greasy Sae sighed, "Okay, how much for it?"

"What?" Charlie asked.

"How much for the deer? You're not going to keep this bidding going all week, just tell me how much."

"I don't have a specific amount." Charlie responded.

"Okay, how about this, I bought it from a woman over there." In her hands there was a necklace made of what looked like obsidian. In the middle sat a four leaf clover.

"How'd she-?" Charlie began.  
"Traded between districts illegally," Greasy Sae whispered.

"Well, it's a deal." Charlie said, putting the deer on a small cart Greasy Sae had been lugging around.

Charlie had been so happily distracted by the obsidian she didn't notice it was a very boyish necklace. Charlie smiled anyway and carried it home with her. She got in the house and fixed herself dinner then fell into sleep.

_Charlie sat in front of the crowd of people who were in the middle of town crowding the large projection and watching the scene play out_

_"Any last words, Havel?" the boy from District two chuckled._

_"Yeah. Charlie, it was all worth it. They're beautiful." Havel responded._

_The boy couldn't make the death quick, he had to pick at Havel._

_The scene suddenly changed to the boys fighting. Havel with only a dagger, the other with a large knife._

_"And this," The boy from District two swung and hit Havel's neck, it cleanly cut the head off, "Is how you kill someone."_

_The cannon went off._

_"NO!" Screamed Charlie, agony ripping through her throat and tears suddenly all over her face. "No! No! No!"  
Her father picked her up, trying to pull her through the crowd._

_"It's all my fault," Charlie was murmuring, "It's all my fault."_

Charlie bursted awake when someone shook her; she let out a startled screech.

"Hey. Hey." Gale said, "It's just me."

"G-Gale?... What do you want?" Charlie huffed, then everything dawned on her, "And why are you in my room?"

"Are you home alone?"

"My parents had to go somewhere, now why are you in my room?"

"I felt bad, so I knocked on the door, when no one answered I let myself in." Gale replied.

"Wha-?"

"Hey, what's mine is yours."

"And what's mine is yours…" I sighed.  
We walked out onto the porch and sat in the chairs.

"I'm really sorry. I feel awful, I didn't mean to just start saying things like that and… I'm so sorry."  
"You were mad because I stole your game which you sell or eat." I pointed out.

"Precisely," Gale nodded.

They sat in silence for a little while before a Peacekeeper walked up.

"Are you Charlie Tessel?" he asked, almost startled by the muscular figure next to me.

"Did a man named Mummo Hart send you?"

"Yes. Says you're selling illegal game." The Peacekeeper pointed for her to stick her hands out.

"Did he get something out of it?" Charlie asked, slowly moving her hands.

"Yes, thirty tesseraes."

"Yeah, Mummo is a con artist." Gale interrupted.

"I don't believe it." The Peacekeeper said looking through notes of people on a digital pad.

"Its okay, you've tried to serve Panem well, he is just a con artist. You Peacekeepers are what make our worlds better." Gale smiled.

The Peacekeeper waved as he left and smiled. He got halfway away before Charlie elbowed Gale in the stomach.

"You are such a suck up."

"You're the one who's a gorgeous girl! You could've flirted your way out of it." He said elbowing her back.

"Oh, gorgeous am I?" Charlie said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I, um…" Gale stammered, "In that boyish kind of way."

Charlie just stood shocked by what had just came out of Gale's mouth.  
"Oh." Charlie said, then recollected herself, "Well in that case, you're handsome… In that girly kind of way."

"Oh, ." Gale said, "You're so funny."

"I bet all the guys are falling all over you." Charlie continued.  
"Charlie." Gale pestered.

"No really, did you see how that Peacekeeper was looking at you."

"_Charlie_."

"I mean if you can get guys like that-!" Before Charlie could finish her sentence Gale's hands came on either side of her face, gently. He leaned in and kissed her. Charlie's eyes widened and she stood there for a moment, taken aback. She then closed her eyes and just enjoyed the moment. After a moment they separated.

"You could've just said, 'Shut up'." Charlie blushed.

"But how boring would that be?" Gale chuckled.

"I want to give you something." Charlie said, reaching in her pocket. She pulled out the obsidian necklace and put it around Gale's neck. It suited him.

"It's a promise." Charlie smiled.

"And what's the promise?" Gale asked.  
"That I'll always be here for you, no matter what."

Days past and past, Charlie and Gale spent the time together, they were almost inseparable. When people said Charlie or Gale it was always Charlie and Gale or Gale and Charlie. Their names were always in the same sentence.

Mummo, who's punishment was lashing, had permanently gone insane in everyone's opinion and he became the District's laughing stock.

"The bombs will come! It'll be the end! I know, my dreams predict the future!" Mummo yelled.

People would laugh and laugh but never say anything to Mummo themselve's.

"Short girl!" Mummo called to Charlie one day.

"Should I-?" Charlie asked Gale pointing to Mummo from behind a hand.

"Just… Let's see what he wants." Gale mustered.

"Okay." They walked over to Mummo.

"No, boy, go away, it is not your time to find out."

"Find out what?" Charlie asked, as Gale obeyed Mummo and stood a few inches away.

"Too close my boy, go home."  
"Charlie, I don't think-."

"Just go home, Gale. I'll see you soon." Charlie said, recognizing the urgency in Mummo's voice.

"If you say so," Gale shrugged, leaving.

Mummo stood silent in front of Charlie for a moment. Charlie was unsure what was going on until Mummo finally spoke.

"He'll forget you." Mummo said.  
"Who?" Charlie asked.

"The tall boy, he will forget you. The bombs will come and they will steal you away. He will think of you as dead and forget you. He will go after the one he calls 'Catnip'. You'll become nothing to him. You will be a slave to the Capitol after he forgets, he won't remember."

Charlie listened dumbfounded by the whole occurrence. Finally Charlie shook her head, she began to laugh.

"Funny one, Mummo. Now never say that again or I won't be afraid to hurt you." Charlie ran to Gale, the idea of him forgetting her burning her head. Charlie was one to easily cry, it was well known. She came off as tough, as able to carry herself, and she was, but tears were easily shed.

"What did he say?" Gale asked, seeing the tears welling up in Charlie's eyes at the mental image of Gale forgetting her.

"He said… Nothing… Absolutely nothing." They walked the rest of the way home silent. Minutes past and past and Gale just watched Charlie with a curious look in his eyes, Charlie ignored him and pretended as if she was alone.

_That's never going to happen!_ She kept telling herself but she couldn't believe it. If it did, if the bombs did come, could it? I mean, after the death of Rue recently it's so possible, the outburst that had happened in the other District causing so much fear.

They reached the Everdeen's house and began to cook some dinner, the entire time they watched the Hunger Games play out on the small projected screen.

As they were cooking Katniss and Peeta had another kissing seminar that seemed to happen so much recently. Gale, who'd been cutting the meat, stabbed the cutting board.

"Aren't they so cute?" Prim giggled. The romance helped her focus off the fact that her sister was so very close to dying.

"Yeah._ Cute_." Gale said, snidely.

"Gale, can I talk to you?" Charlie asked and they exited the back door.

"Aren't you in the middle of cooking something?" He huffed.

"It can wait. The games are almost over, Katniss and Peeta will return soon. Be honest with me now, do you still have feelings for Katniss?" It was never honestly said to Charlie and Gale that they were in a relationship; it was just a guessed thing.

"No." Gale lied.

Charlie sighed, "So 'yes' than. Okay, well. Yep… I'm gonna go back to cooking… Bye then."

Gale snorted. Charlie gave her usual raising one eyebrow maneuver.

"You can't tell me you don't remember the last time you said that to me."

"When was that?"

"The first time we went hunting together." Gale said, "And the same day, that we first kissed."

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She pulled away laughing, "You're the corniest suck up I've ever met."

"No!" Came a scream from inside the house.


End file.
